Prophecy
by meekobb
Summary: It was always meant to be. Written for SGABeya Secret Elf exchange 2012. John/Teyla, Legacy spoilers.
1. Chapter 1

**Author Note: This story was written for SGA Beya Secret Elf exchange on LiveJournal. It does contain some spoilers for the Legacy books in the last chapter (5), fair warning. I do hope fans enjoy it. It's not my best writing but it was an idea that begged to be written. Darn bunnies! There is also a piece of artwork that goes with this story that can be found on my profile page.**

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Aingeal feared her people's experiments and search for shortcuts to their becoming for a great deal. As a young child when her visions manifested, many of the others in the Great City either dismissed her for being tainted or ill, others who heard her feared her. That was especially so when she had long predicted their ascension experiments on the humans would fail and be their undoing.

Still she kept to herself as the visions worsened with each step they took as she grew older. When the subjects of their selfish desires finally rebelled, Aingeal smiled. She was not at all unsympathetic to what they soon referred to as wraith, but the vision the future. A child of wraith and of ancestors. Peace may not come for many years. Many years beyond her own granted time to walk amongst the beating hearts. What she took comfort in were those visions that she had.

As most of the ancestors continued their work, their fight against their own abominations, Aingeal took to recording her visions, and her hopes that they would truly come true. As she began, a sharp vision flashed before her of the dark haired man that appeared strikingly like her friend Jiri, with his bright eyes and wild hair. It made her smile when the man held tightly to a young infant, protecting it. A part of her wondered if it was the man's child, or if he was doing as he had in a number of other visions she experienced in protecting others. No, this child meant something to him in the brief moment that she could tell.

He would be their salvation she knew. And the woman would not be like, or unlike him. She was different, not the same. But she was. That confused Aingeal greatly. She just simply _knew_ that she was gifted, much like the way the man was but it was not the same in the way she envisioned him in the Great City. It would take these two mysterious faces to bring about a peace that the stars will not see for generations.

It was many years after she entered her thoughts, her prophecy, into the database when she and her like made the decision to evacuate. She had previously enjoyed her time amongst the humans during her first visit through the other star system that she made the choice to continue through the ring instead of ascending. It wasn't that she was unopposed to ascending. She did believe however that every living being must eventually find their end.

Living with the humans for another forty years or so, she didn't keep count, Aingeal found herself thinking more about the man and woman from her visions all those years ago. Neither one would be born for a long time to come but she knew she did not want to be dead to observe them. She closed her eyes and gave in to move on to the higher planes. From there, Aingeal stood watch, smiling when she observed birth of the child of the ancestors, the one who would lead his life into the stars.


	2. Chapter 2

If there was one lesson that was ingrained into the children, it was that they were never to stray past the safety of the treeline into open areas without an adult for their protection. For what protection they might be able to provide in the event the Wraith were to come down from the stars to collect the lives of their people.

There was some relief in thought when it came to these experiences although it was something that was very taboo of Athosian history to speak of. Those who were gifted, who can somehow predict the Wraith arrival before they descended the stars to give at least a small start for the security of the caverns within quick footfalls of the encampment.

The first time Teyla Emmagen informed her father that they were getting such – visitors, Torren's fear of confirmation of his child's gift did not provide him much time to dwell as she was the first to mention such whereas the other gifted took a few moments longer before they could sense the danger growing closer. That first afternoon, he swiftly gathered his daughter up in his arms while calling for Tagan as he started for caverns. He kept looking back, only to find his beloved partner, wife for all meanings of the word, being pulled into the light of the alien vessels as she ran to them. He whispered quick words to the Ancestors that she would not suffer long in their hands as he took their only child together to safety.

Teyla hadn't quite understood the severity of the sensations she experienced until she soon felt the loss of her mother. The child she was desired to cry for her mother, for her loss and death, but another part of her felt a sense safety and an underlying knowledge that one day it would be different. Seeing a boy standing far off in the woods, dressed in dark clothes that was not of their or any other world she had visited with her parents, staring back at her. The unruly dark hair and his gentle smile gave her a peace that made her close her eyes and tighten her hold around her father's shoulder before looking back and he was gone.

She looked up to the stars and the vessels that filled her people with fear were still around, but on the open paths and fields. No where near where she had seen the boy. Where had he gone?

Teyla had seen visions of the boy again until many years later as after that day, when she had begun to be instructed further about the value of her gift by those who were like her. Torren had expressed his concern for the strength of her gift over others and quietly, the Athosian council felt she would be best to lead them into safety. Thus her grooming for leadership had begun.

As she grew older, the boy she saw grew into a man. Teyla had bloomed into a beautiful young lady that brought her many potential mates from her people, but the recent loss of her father to a culling on a visiting world in his trades left her not wishing for a long term commitment. Her priority of care was that of the people in a whole and she knew she could not afford to give her heart to just one as many required it from her. It was not as though she was completely naïve of the physical pursuits of the body and that each person, male and female had their needs. She did spend some time in the company of one young man, who too shared a similar opinion that they would not be together for longer than they required one another's comfort.

The partners she shared in, they did not feel right. Teyla always felt there was more, especially whenever her gaze fell upon the Ancestral Ring. She never realized just how complete she would feel, one unexpected morning during group tea when Halling brought a group of strangers to speak with her. One by one as the strangely dark clothed men entered the communal tent, apprehension filled her but recognition surprisingly filled her heart when a dark, wild haired man stepped in and smiled at her.

"Well, we'll just have to get to know each other a little better. I like Ferris wheels, college football, and anything that goes more than 200 miles an hour," he said, earning a warm smile from her. Teyla knew she had met the one that would shape her future.


	3. Chapter 3

Even as a boy, John Sheppard was something one would call a loner of sorts. Sure he had his friends but he was also content to just sit back and watch things as they occurred around him. His teachers called him an introspective young man even back then. What they didn't know what that if he shared what he was truly thinking, he knew he would have been committed to the loony bin.

It started when he was maybe six or seven years old while he was playing out in the treeline that came up on the back of his parents' property. A young girl not much younger than he was seemingly played with a game of hide and seek, ducking behind trees to hide from him whenever he tried to seek her out. Of course he never actually found her and it both baffled and intrigued him.

Whenever he had moments in his life that forced him to retreat into himself, whenever something happened that troubled him deeply that he did not wish for others to see just how deep the hurt cut him, the girl would visit. Neither of them spoke but he and the vision seemed to hold an understanding of one another that he didn't quite understand yet.

When John's mother passed away, he ran off to his usual hiding spot and curled up at the bottom of a large tree and just hugged his legs closer to him as he struggled to keep from crying. The sounds of disturbed leaves and twigs caused him to look up to find the girl having made her appearance and sat down, mirroring his position, under another large tree near him. She gave him a supportive smile that communicated her understanding. Her presence gave him a sense of calm that he craved, that he would forever miss from his mother.

As he grew into a man, John fought against his father's plan for him to continue in his steps into the family business. His mother always supported his interests where the man considered them foolish _hobbies_. Running off after his time in college to join the Air Force was the straw that broke the camel's back in that fragile relationship. As was when he was a boy, the girl was always with him when he felt broken.

John would never realize just how much he truly valued the visits he had of the girl until much later. The last time he ever saw her was the only time she spoke to him. After his failed marriage to Nancy and when the divorce was finalized, he had taken to a drunken stumble through a nearby park by his apartment. She came to him and sat beside him on the bench just as she always done before. Only this last time, she gave him a sad smile, though her tone was encouraging. She told him that he needed to be stronger. That the obstacles he would come across next would truly test him but she would not be able to come to him then for reasons that he would understand when the time came. However, he would need to hold out because he would one day find peace and fulfillment that he desired, and perhaps more, but he should not be disillusioned by her absence, but be strengthened by her promise to see him again.

Disillusioned he was. John was angry and depressed. Everything he touched seemed to turn instead of gold but to dust. Losing his comrades, belittled by the service that he loved, he welcomed the escape of life and his punishment to the barren tour of Antarctica playing chauffeur.

Atlantis. He hadn't signed up for that when he joined the Air Force. He believed them to be some elaborate mental institution and they were just trying to prove him crazy. Throwing his marbles into the wind, he went forward.

O'Neill was crazy. Weir was crazy. That McKay fellow had certainly lost ihis/i marbles way before the rest of them. Maybe he was the only sane one of the lot and for that he would go for the show. He had nothing else to lose. It didn't hurt that he enjoyed pissing off Sumner with every word that slipped from his mouth. Yeah, he did try to behave as were his orders from O'Neill, but the man was just a bastard.

Yes, John was quite eager to be able to explore his first alien world – even if technically Atlantis was the first place he'd ever gone that wasn't on Earth. He might even get to meet some aliens, and he couldn't help but to be a little disappointed initially when they ended up being as human as he was.

Halling had escorted their group to a large tent that was set up in the middle of their community and a strange sense of deja vu came over him. At first he frowned, puzzled at the feeling. When he looked up, John could not help but to blink as they were introduced to a woman, their leader.

"I am Teyla Emmagen. Daughter of Tagan," the girl, no woman, that had been with him in visions on he saw spoke to them. A small, knowing smile ghosted his lips with the feeling of deep trust and friendship filled him. He felt at peace as he smiled at her.


	4. Chapter 4

Aingeal could not be more pleased to see her visions coming true. Despite the rules of the ascendants, she could not help but to _interfere_. Although in her defense, she only did so from her distance and no so much to manipulate the lives of the humans. From the time the male and female saw one another, a gentle spell she wove into their minds. A spell that had them unable to recall memories about their childhood secret friend that they had in one another that spanned across the stars of two galaxies.

During the first year of the Earth born humans occupying the great city, Aingeal watched over her children. She watched, laughed, cried, and prayed for their safety. For their happiness. For their losses. She took a great deal of comfort with the knowledge that Atlantis was in good hands and that she seemed to be pleased to have the child of John Sheppard guiding her.

Nearing the end of their first year, when they feared their loss against the pending battle against the Wraith, she begun to fear for the two. The new knowledge that child Teyla Emmagen was a descendant of escaped humans that were experimented upon by a Wraith scientist during her own time in the lower plains. It was a detail that she had previously foresaw but to her it only strengthened her opinions that these were indeed the ones to help bring about the catalyst that would one day bring an end to the Wraith. The others, not so much, as they doubted that a human with such a flaw could bring about the end of their mistake.

The following years as Aingeal continued to observe the ones she began to consider _her_ children, despite the others of her kind believing that she was not of her sound mind, she was filled with amusement and warmth. Unfortunately when the two somehow found themselves growing apart, the young woman finding companionship elsewhere, she truly began to fear that her hopes of the visions she experienced all those generations ago would not come to fruition. Watching his reaction to her announcement that she was with child, a child that was not of Ancient blood, filled her heart with disappointment.

Her visions would never come when forced. She was more than confident that things would become as she had anticipated all those many generations in the past, although it would take longer than hoped, even if they seemed to be dragging their feet. A great deal of the time, she would sit there in her thoughts as she watched them from far above the humans and do what the children referred to as _mope_. And mope she did. How two people could not see the amount that the other was attracted to them, she could not fathom. Amongst her own people if someone was interested in mating with another they would simply approach them and seek permission to spend more time with one another before the logical course of relationships took effect. No, these two seemed to have a dance around each other. Even when they practiced their fighting skills, she could almost _smell_ their hormones from there.

For the following four years, her children's friends came and gone. Family gained and lost. As the Wraith continued to prove themselves a formidable enemy despite the successes that the humans from Earth had in battle, their cunning strategies took a turn striking fear in all that watched helplessly.

The Wraith learned to adapt Lantean technology and begun the journey to Earth.


	5. Chapter 5

_One Year Later_

Crises and dangers averted. One mishap after another overcome. Barely into his 40s, John Sheppard contemplated retirement more times than he could count. Never had he actually considered those passing thoughts. If anyone had told him when he did try the one time to quit that his best friend would be taken upon their return to Pegasus, transformed into their enemy, and entered into a relationship with his _other_ best friend – he would have thought them crazy. Don't forget that he actually was on somewhat friendly terms with a shrink. No, he wouldn't have thought them crazy. He would have said they were crazier than crazy. Certifiable to an institution of some sort.

Then again, he could have said that to O'Neill six years ago when he told him about aliens, and expeditions to other galaxies.

Heaving a deep breath, he stared out over the ice and snow as he tugged his coat tighter around him with his free hand. His other held onto a mug of whatever coffee substitute the kitchen came up with for that day. He hadn't felt so tired and worn down so much in years, but he also hadn't felt so complete either. Even more so, smiling as he felt Teyla's arms around around him from behind. An intimate gesture they rarely displayed outside of their quarters where people could see. Of course, there was no one outside to see them now. _They_ weren't as crazy as him.

"What is on your mind?" she asked softly, her voice warming him in ways nothing else could.

John didn't answer right away, simply making a face and shrugged a shoulder. "I don't know. Everything and nothing. What are you doing out here? Where's TJ?"

"Torren is with Rodney. They are with Carson," Teyla shared. "You have been out here for awhile."

He turned to face her but still was unable to find any words for what he was feeling. In truth, overwhelmed would be a good one but he wasn't really up for the touchy feely type of conversation. Except, the dreams he'd been having lately. John had been wanting to talk to her about them and made a face as he looked away briefly. "Do you ever get the feeling that maybe we've known each other for awhile?"

She raised an eyebrow, confused at what he meant. "We have known each other for seven years."

He grimaced, expecting such a response. "Yeah I know, but... I don't know how to say it. Uh – have you ever wondered why we got along so well, right from the start? We're from two totally different worlds, and not just in regards to planets and galaxies. Different cultures, backgrounds. But we just clicked. Instant trust. Did you ever question yourself why?"

Teyla frowned slightly and blinked at his question. She remembered that when her people had come to live in Atlantis for that time the first year, her friends had inquired about how she so blindly gave her trust to the Lanteans the way she did. All she was able to tell them was the feeling was within her that it was supposed to be. "Time to time," she admitted carefully. "Why do you ask?"

Now he begun to grow more squeamish and uncomfortable. "You'd think I was crazy..."

"John. I would never think such thoughts about you." She took the mug from his hand and set it on the ledge so that she could take both of his hands in hers as she looked into his eyes. "You have trusted me a long time. You know I believe your words."

Taking a deep breath, his gaze leveled on hers. "The last few months, I been having these dreams. Most of times, growing up back on Earth. Sometimes here. There was someone with me. Seriously Teyla, this is nuts. You want to know? It was like your ghost or something that looked or reminded me of you was with me. See? I told you it was crazy, I was crazy!"

She stood there frozen at his admission. When he thought she was going to say that he needed to visit with Doc Robinson, he took in her hesitant expression. "You okay?"

"Yes," she smiled, meeting his eyes. "You are not crazy," Teyla said after she was able to collect her thoughts. "You should know, that I've had somewhat similar dreams myself, at night and during meditation. A dark haired boy running with me through the woods on Old Athos. Surely these experiences are related?"

"I don't know. All I know is that everyone else would think we lost it if we said anything," John laughed lightly.

"Perhaps an omen? That our friendship was meant to be?" she suggested. Only neither knew just how true that was, or what else it may imply.

John squirmed again as he stood in front of her as he didn't particularly go for those kind of philosophies and beliefs. He always thought that whatever happens, happens. It's their choices that shape what comes.

"Let us head in and save Rodney and Carson the pain of Torren's anger," Teyla smiled, pushing up on her toes to kiss him while they still had a moment of privacy between themselves.

He kept his arm around her waist as they made their way back inside out of the cold but removed it as they headed back into more populated areas of the city. It just was how they worked, and made their relationship theirs rather than that of the expedition. He hated being the topic of rumors and was glad that after the first couple weeks after they had gotten together, things calmed down.

Entering the infirmary, the couple smiled as they saw Torren cheering happily as his uncles Carson and Rodney kept him entertained. Carson had noticed them first and grinned at their approach. "He is certainly a happy fella. Gettin' big too," he greeted, handing off the toy in his hand to the child.

"Thank you both for watching him while we spoke. It is greatly appreciated," Teyla replied as she ran her hand through the boy's dark, curly hair. A trait that he inherited from Kanaan.

"It was not a problem. Anytime. I was just hoping to speak with you for a moment myself if its not a bad time," Carson said casually, but with a hint of trepidation.

"Of course," she responded, glancing up at John who only shrugged as he remained quiet, still lost in his own thoughts.

The doctor took a moment and looked between them before adding carefully, and quite cryptically. "Maybe Colonel Sheppard would like to join us as well?"

John raised an eyebrow and nodded slowly. "Sure," he drew it out, waving them on to lead the way to the back where Carson's small office was located.

Once alone, Beckett figured he would share the information he discovered quickly. Like ripping off a bandaid. "I wanted to let you know that your physicals after the last mission came back clean."

"You could have just said that out there. No need to pull us aside Doc," John remarked and paused in consideration. "Unless you found something else?"

"I did," Carson answered, leveling a heavy and pointed look at the two of them. "I will say it simply. Congratulations. You're going to be parents!"


End file.
